Shrunken Heads by Martha

If you're making a Halloween punch or even soup, here's a decoration that's really fun and easy to make.  It's from Martha Stewart, but this Martha's added some useful information of my own.

Use nice round apples.  Peel them and cut in half.  Remove the seeds with a melon baller.  (This is important.)  Rub the surface with lemon juice.  Take a paring knife, or use your melon baller to cut in eyes, noses and mouths.  Make the cut-outs larger that you'd expect.  (Everything shrinks!)

Place the apples cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a sillipat.  Bake at 250 degrees.  (Now Stewart says to bake them for two hours.  I kept mine in the oven about 8 hours before I thought they looked right.)  I have a dehydrator in my convection oven and that worked great.  Also, every once in a while, I'd take one or two out of the oven and squish them gently with my hands to distort the faces.  Finally, when they are done, insert whole cloves for the eyes.

These can also be strung up and hung as decorations.